California workers denied class-action status for overtime lawsuit
A California federal district judge recently ruled that the 51 information technology job titles listed in an exempt status misclassification case differed too much from one another to be unified under a collective or class-action lawsuit.
Patrick Santiago and Robert Schussel filed the collective and class-action case, alleging that their employer Amdocs had inaccurately classified them and many other employees as exempt, and that after routinely working hours in excess of 40, they were owed overtime pay.
The company classified employees by assigning them to different "bands," separating them by expertise, knowledge and capability. However, the court found that due to the variable nature of the job descriptions and work settings, a collective or class-action lawsuit would be inappropriate. According to the court documents, "the opt-in plaintiffs have 51 different job titles with highly divergent job duties," and therefore complaints would have to be settled individually.
A report of the case from law firm Seyfarth Shaw notes that collective and class treatment is often overturned for similar cases in which the plaintiffs' claims for being similarly situated are too vague.
While overtime disagreements cannot always be prevented, maintaining time and attendance records for all employees regardless of exemption status is a good way to safeguard against lawsuits.
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